Thursday, November 27, 2008

Thanksgiving

The trip has been a real blessing so far. After five days of meetings--100 people or so crammed into a tiny church--nine people came forward to study for baptism at the final call. There has been just a real sense of the Holy Spirit's working in that church, and we hope the relationship between the Lenoir City Church and the Chomanga SDA church will not end here.

Here's more details on the past couple of days from Matthew's emails:

"Before the meetings I had a chance to visit Timothy's grandmother. I enjoyed some roasted peanuts and fresh sugar cane.

"We visited a home for disabled children. It was a difficult experience. Several of the disabled were there as a result of malaria, the stories were all tragic.

"Jesse has had a bug but seems to be doing better.

"Today we visited the largest sugar cane plantation in Africa. We are not sure of the mileage but it has 52 villages on-site. It was a disturbing picture of what the pre-civil war South may have looked like. They import workers from long distances so they cannot afford to leave. The conditions were as you would expect.

"Andrew is doing well. I had to keep him from crawling into a chicken coup in the village the other day. He likes ice cream and orange Fanta. We are hoping to make progress early next week. Please keep us in your prayers that things will go according to God's plans."

Today is a day to be thankful. We have been given so much. Grace has been poured out on us from heaven. And there is no greater blessing than passing on what we have been given to the people God puts into our lives. In a world of fear and darkness and sin, it is so good to know that God's love and light are greater. It is so good to be in His care.